Walking all over Indonesia

EU Commission still using illegally traded timber

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Feature story - 21 October, 2004

Almost six months ago we revealed that the European Commission's new headquarters were being renovated with suspected illegal Indonesian wood. Embarrassed, it promised a full enquiry, but has yet to conclude any investigation, clean up its buying policy, or ... do anything much at all. Today the headquarters open. Did they really think we'd let them get away with this?

The European Commission's practices are destroying the homes of orang-utans such as these.

"Safeguards are in place to ensure
that buildings procured by the Commission do not contain timbers
from illegal sources...such as the renovation of the
Berlaymont...it makes an explicit requirement ...procure timber
only from sustainable sources"

These are the words of Neil Kinnock, Vice President of the EU
Commission, in June 2004. If we were to believe him, it would
indeed be strange that just days after the
initial revelation, our activists observed yet more plywood
being delivered to the Berlaymont construction site from the very
same suspect Indonesian supplies. And in October 2004 Mr Kinnock
seemed to have a bit of a memory lapse about his "explicit
requirement" for sustainable sources. He said: "...the Commission
is not, at present, in a position to state unequivocally whether
any illegally logged wood has been used or not been used in any
part of the renovation work."

The 13th Floor - unlucky for some

Well,
sorry Mr Kinnock, but we can unequivocally state where your wood
comes from. Photographs taken inside the building show the suspect
wood being used in flooring and walls, including on the 13th floor,
which is devoted to Commissioners' offices including the EU
President's office. It seems that 13 certainly is an unlucky number
for the poor orang-utans whose homes have ended up as Mr Barroso's
floorboards. This suspect timber is supplied by Indonesian logging
companies who buy wood illegally from deforested areas which are
home to threatened species such as the orang-utan and Sumatran
tiger, both predicted to become extinct within a generation if
illegal logging continues. Up to 90 percent of logging in Indonesia
is illegal.

"The ancient forests of Indonesia deserve better than to end up
buried under the floor of the European Union headquarters," said
Forest Campaigner Gavin Edwards. "Incoming EU Commission President
Barroso will literally be walking all over the home of orang-utans
and Sumatran tigers, at a time when they should be stopping illegal
timber imports into Europe."

Sweeping the problems under the carpet

Last time around, nearly 4000 people from
around the world sent letters to the EU Commissioner for the
Environment, Margot Wallström, asking her to make sure this didn't
happen again. Her response: absolutely nothing. (But don't worry,
we'll give you something to do soon that she can't ignore...)
Despite the European Commission's supposed commitment to showing
leadership in protecting the world's forests, they are completely
failing, to the extent that highly suspicious floorboards lie under
the plush carpets in their own buildings. Talk about being right
under their nose! It is sadly ironic that as they celebrate the
opening of their comfy new offices in Belgium, an area of ancient
forest the size of that very country is disappearing worldwide
every year.

Please, no more monkey business!

"EU Commission President Barroso will
literally be walking all over the home of Orang-utans and Sumatran
tigers" - Forest Campaigner Gavin Edwards

The Commission has yet to reform its own purchasing and contracting
policy to prevent the Berlaymont situation happening again - they
continue to use a lot of legal jargon to blame contractors rather
than take any practical steps. They also have no deadline to
present a draft law prohibiting imports of illegal timber into
Europe, despite requests from the European Parliament and some
European countries. Such a law would be the surest way of stopping
the EU from consuming illegal timber.

"Failure to introduce legislation prohibiting illegal wood
imports is a further blow to the Commission's credibility," said
Sebastien Risso of the Greenpeace European Unit. "Mr Barroso's
administration must take up where this Commission has lagged
behind, rather than carrying on with a business-as-usual approach
of buying wood supplied by illegal loggers."